Bull Born Female
by Swimmer Pichu
Summary: She had become too soft around the others in Australia; they were so much slower than Haruka it had made her ease up way too much. It was then, she decided, she would cut all positive ties with these three boys who could ruin her chances at participation at the Olympics. (Fem!RinxHaru) T-Rated just to be safe.
1. Enter Ren: The Shark-Toothed Girl

**I've been seeing s****ome stories and art where either the whole cast is genderbent, or it's just Haru with the occasional select other. But I've never seen Rin singled out as a genderbent (main) character, so I'm going to give it a go!**

**(Hehe, to address the guest review about girls and boys having separate divisions, I already knew about that. I was planning on making this okay now- I know it isn't how it works- but I was definitely going to separate their divisions later. How else would they've established a relationship early on? And as for Ren having to take steroids to beat Haru, THIS IS FICTION. Logic doesn't always apply. ^_^)**

**Prologue**

**Enter Ren: The Shark-Toothed Girl!**

* * *

"Hello everyone," A young girl with short maroon locks announced to her peers"My name is Matsuoka Ren; I previously went to Sano Elementary School. I may have a boyish name," she gestured to her name written out on the board, "But I'm a girl, rest assured," She puffed out her chest, "I'm looking forward to being in class here." she bowed, earning strange looks from her classmates.

**...**

"Wow, this tree is so huge!" Ren observed,'Is it a cherry-blossom tree?"

"It is." Makoto answered.

"Oh, then come spring there'll be a whole bunch of blossoms floating around the pool! I want to try and swim in a pool of cherry blossoms."

Makoto frowned worryingly, "The water will be too cold though; you should wait until summer comes to start swimming."

She laughed, putting her hands up in defense, "I was just joking, you don't have to be so seri-"

"I have a question for you." Haru interrupted.

"Ask away." Her teeth peeked at the other two sixth years.

"Heh, we just believe that we've seen you at tournaments before" Makoto said for his friend.

"You recognized me?" She asked excitedly, earning a look from Haru for the second time the day, "What's up with that scary look? I just happened to end up going to this school when my family moved. Coincidences can be scary, right?" she let out an awkward chuckle.

**...**

"My name is Matsuoka Ren!" the girl announced for the second time that day, "I previously belonged to the Sano Swimming Club. I have a pretty boyish name, but I'm a girl."

The small crowd of children surrounding her stared at her weirdly; not seeming to notice the absence of a small blond boy.

**...**

"Man... it just coincidence after coincidence." She crossed her arms over her sky blue swimsuit. "I transferred to the same school as you and even the same swimming club."

"Yeah," Makoto agreed, "This is a surprise." He turned, "Right, Haru?" The boy in question ignored him and dove into the pool with a splash. Ren just smiled widely and dove into the lane next to him, easily catching up.

**...**

Makoto and Haru stood in the lobby- one willingly and one grudgingly- waiting for their new acquaintance to come around the corner and join them. Haruka impatiently tapped his shoes on the floor until she entered the room, at which he stood abruptly.

"Matsuoka-kun," The eldest Tachibana sibling greeted as they all walked to the door, "Do you want to ride together?" She silently walked ahead, going a different direction than Makoto and Haru, "The bicycle racks are this way."

"Oh, no, I'm running home." She informed.

"You're running?" He asked, surprised, "How many kilometers is your house from here?"

"Let's see," She thought briefly before answering, "About three kilometers if I'm correct. Anyways, I've got to get going, see ya!" Ren waved before running off, smile on her face.

* * *

_The water is alive._

A young boy, wearing a white swim cap, goggles and light blue swimming bottoms dove into a pool of chlorinated water.

_Once you dive in, it will immediately bare its fangs and attack; but there's nothing to fear._

Haru sliced his right arm through the water, to the surface; he started to swim.

_Thrust your fingers into the surface and carve an opening; then you slide your body through that opening. Moving your arms, your head, your chest..._

"His swimming always looks so smooth." Makoto commented from the pool's edge.

"Yeah, like a dolphin!" the blonde, pink-eyed boy standing at his side added on excitedly.

Suddenly, the pair heard footsteps nearby and turned their heads to the starting blocks, noting a new face had appeared; she stood a bit smaller than the boy who had dived into the water moments ago, short burgundy hair protruding slightly from under her yellow swim cap.

"Who's that?" the blonde asked his senpai.

"Matsuoka Ren-kun," he answered, "She transferred into our class last week."

The blonde's mouth formed an 'O' as the girl snapped back the strap to her goggles; right after, diving into the water, taking seconds to catch up with Haruka, the boy whom dived in only seconds ago.

They both put effort into their arms, pulling themselves ahead of each other again and again, eventually tied with one another; at the flip turn, however, Ren pulled ahead slightly, but it was short-lived, as Haruka put a little more force into his stroke. He emerged his head from the water first, then taking off his purple goggles and swim cap, flipping his hair out, water dripping off his emotionless face.

The taller boy from earlier, Makoto, bent down, holding out his hand to Haruka.

"Nobody can beat you when you're in the water, Haru-chan." he said, soft smile on his face.

"Stop adding on the '-chan' already." Haru replied annoyed, accepting his friend's hand, getting out of the pool and onto the bright orange floor tile.

"That was do cool, Nanase-kun!" the pink-eyed boy, Nagisa, praised his other senpai, "I wanna swim like you!"

More splashing in the pool called for the trio's attention as Ren popped her head out of the water, swimming cap and goggles now off.

"You're as fast as the rumors said," she rested her arm on a blue lane-divider, "What was your time?" she allowed her sharp, shark-like teeth to show, smiling slightly.

Haruka turned away, stoic expression back into play, "I don't care about my time."

The girl seemed a bit surprised by his reply for a second, but quickly started laughing at the boy, fangs showing once more, "That's just like the rumors said, too."

Haru turned back to the girl as she got out of the pool, all eyes of the trio on her, "Hey Nanase," she started, "You interested in entering a relay with me in the tournament?"

Haru's face hardened before walking away, muttering a response of, "I only do freestyle."

_That's right_, Haru thought, _I don't care about swimming faster times. All I want is to feel the water. _He dove into the water once more._ With my skin, my eyes, my soul... To never doubt what it makes me feel. Believe in myself. Don't resist the water; welcome it. We accept one another._

* * *

"Matsuoka-kun," Nagisa approached the girl as she got out of the pool, "I heard that you're swimming in a relay with Nanase-kun and Tachibana-kun, is that true?"

"That's the plan," She nodded at the younger child, "I'm still waiting for a response, though."

"Let me join you then." He urged.

"No way," She dismissed him with a wave of the hand, "We're super serious about this."

"I'm serious, too." Nagisa grabbed at her arm, "I'm really fast too. So please? Pretty please?"

"Fine then." Her hands fell to her hips, "You can join if you place first in the next breaststroke time trial."

"Really?" The blond turned to Haru, who was stepping onto a starting block, "Did you hear that, Nanase-kun? I'm going to work really hard!"

His blue eyes went from Ren to Nagisa before going back to focusing on the water; he dove into it without another thought.

* * *

The three sixth years stood in front of their graduation project, bricks all having select messages of their placers; the crisp early year's wind nipping any skin they had left uncovered.

"I won't be attending middle school here." Ren stated bluntly, arms resting behind her head.

Haru's eyes widened slightly and his mouth fell open the smallest bit, turning towards his female classmate.

"Huh? What do you mean, Ren?" Makoto voiced his own shock, worry painted on his face.

"I'm going to Australia." she answered plainly.

"You mean you're going to a different country?"

"Yep, I'm going to a swimming school." she answered just as plainly as the last few times.

Haru's brows knitted closer together and he turned away, looking slightly annoyed, "What are you trying to do?" he asked, eyes glued to the rows of colorfully decorated bricks.

"I'm going to become an Olympic swimmer." she replied, a wide smile coming to her face.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Makoto asked, "What about the relay?" his concern seemed to grow with every word.

She let out a small giggle, starting to pace, "I'll swim in the relay." she said, "I'm going to leave after the tournament. So this will be the last time the four of us will swim together." She turned back to face the two; smile growing even wider, "Well, for now, that is."

Makoto would've been satisfied with that if it weren't for the fact the Haru looked like he was pretty upset about this, he looked at him with worry filled eyes.

"I only swim freestyle." Haru stated monotonously.

"That's why you have to swim in the relay, dummy." Ren said walking back over to Haru just to flick at his forehead, "This is our last chance for a long time. Let's swim _together,_ Nanase."

Makoto observed the scene with growing unease, unsure if Haru would just run off and start babbling about how he's not going to swim with the other three in the relay; but Ren was playing her cards right, as long as she didn't unnecessarily strike any nerves, they would be fine. His worries ended, though, when Ren showed those chompers again, saying just what needed to be said to his old friend.

"If you swim with me, Nanase," Haru turned and Ren's smile grew, no matter how impossible that seemed, "I'll show you a sight you've never seen before!"

The other two children blushed, no matter how much they attempted to hide it, and Ren soon followed suit, speaking gibberish, trying to take back what she had just said to the two friends.

* * *

It all went by in such a rush that it was hard to remember just what exactly happened; they were all lined up at the starting block, swim caps tightly held in place by their varied pairs of colored goggles.

Everyone who was participating in the backstroke portion of the relay got called into the water, and that's when it all became a blur.

The buzzer sounded and Makoto started off with a powerful kick off of the pool's wall, using his long legs to his advantage; then he put his all into his arm's strokes, creating large splashes every time his hands sliced through the water's surface. Then at the flip turn, he kicked with enough force to pull ahead of the other groups, keeping that lead up until when his hands hit the pool's wall; now Nagisa dove in.

The young blonde extended his arms, making it seem as if they'd become much longer all of a sudden; and though he lost some of the previous lead on the competition at the turn, he still kept ahead by a hair with his breaststroke up until when it was Ren's turn to swim.

She swam the butterfly stroke as if she were a shark going after its lunch; her arms propelled her ahead of everyone else, and she managed to keep a good lead even after the turn; she eventually slammed her hands against the wall as the previous two had done, beckoning Haruka into the water.

Haruka managed to more than double their team's lead before the turn, still keeping his graceful, dolphin-like stroke in tact; by the flip turn, all the other lanes were at least four or five seconds behind. Haruka ended up surfacing from the water first, having absolutely demolished the competition.

After Makoto helped Haru out of the water, he was nearly tackled right back in by Nagisa and Ren, causing Makoto to chuckle lightly from the side; the two were so happy. They did it! They won!

**...**

Minutes later they were getting their photo taken, all of them were smiling widely but Haru, who had seemed slightly distracted and peeved by one of Ren's arm being slung over his shoulder.

Nonetheless, she kept it there, and even tried to trick Haru into smiling; but to no avail, of course.

The picture ended up being quite an odd one, Haru looking peeved, Ren pouting at him with the trophy her free arm, Makoto laughing while making a peace sign and Nagisa just smiling like an idiot with his arm around Ren's back.

* * *

"The four of us won this together," Ren stated, gesturing to the relay trophy in the otherwise empty cookie tin, "So it doesn't make sense for just one person to take it home. So let's put it in a time capsule," she placed the cover on the tin, then stood up once more, "And dig it up when we're all grown up."

Her eyes then found their way to Haru, and he looked back, the former blushed slightly but still smiling managed to say, "Romantic, right?"

Haru looked away, the slightest blush tinting his cheeks.

* * *

Haruka stood in front of some blocked off railroad crossing, covering up a yaw; sudden footsteps tugged at his attention, though. He looked up to see Ren all bundled up in a black jacket and camel plaid scarf.

They locked gazes just before a train obscured their views,"Haru..." she mumbled.

The moment the train had passed by and the safety gates had risen out of the way, Haru ran to the other side to the burgundy haired girl.

"You're back?" He asked, as if to reassure himself.

"Yeah." She curtly answered.

"You could have called." Haru looked away, slight disappointment apparent.

She chuckled lightly, embarrassed, "Well it would have been a bit embarrassing to do that... How are you doing? Still swimming?"

"Yeah," A rare smile shone through, "I joined the swimming team at my and Makoto's middle school; he joined as well. The school has a pretty big pool."

"Hey, Haru." She interrupted, "Let's swim together again... to see who's faster." An out-of-character coolness filled her eyes and voice.

**...**

"Oh, it's Ren!" Coach Sasbe observed, "You're back from Australia?"

"Yeah." She nodded, "We wanted to do some swimming, actually."

"Sure," He shoved his keys back into his pocket, "There's nobody here right now anyways, so it's a perfect time."

**...**

"Wati, Ren!" Haruka grabbed onto her wrist, struggling to keep her from getting away. "What's wrong? You've acting really strange today."

She managed to get out of his grip, glaring at him, "I quit." She mumbled.

"Huh?"

"I'm done swimming." She spat out bitterly before running off, leaving a wide-eyed Haru.

* * *

**So yeah, those are some of the flashbacks from the anime up to episode 10. I forgot some of the events from High Speed! because I read the summaries quite a few weeks ago. Anyways, what do you guys think? Should I fix anything? Does anything seem off?**


	2. From Prey to Predator: We Meet Again

**Thank you for the review, favorites and follows so far, they are all very appreciated. And if anybody is curious about the title, in this situation bull means a male shark. Anyways, on with the chapter! :D**

**Chapter 1**

**From Prey to Predator: We Meet Again!**

* * *

Haruka sat, clad in a purple striped pair of swimming trunks, in his white bathtub; he was reminiscing in those enjoyable memories of when he was a sixth year, but unfortunately with those happy memories came _that one_ as well.

The recent start-up of school had brought Ren back into his mind once more and he didn't like it one bit; he had been able to delve into his studies and sometimes the comfort of any old pad of paper and pencil to get her out of his mind. But she would always nudge her way back to mind at some point of the day.

Abruptly, Haru dunked his higher half under the lukewarm water of the filled bathtub, bending his knees as he did so.

_Grandmother used to tell me all the time about that one saying... when you're ten they call you a prodigy, when you're fifteen they call you a genius and once you hit twenty you're nothing special anymore. I... I hope Ren didn't really end up quitting swimming._

* * *

The chirps of gulls filled the air as the sun rose up further into the cloudless sky; the scent of the sea filled the noses of any resident or passerby, giving a homey feel to one of the more rural areas of the country.

Makoto to in a breath of this air before starting to climb the large set of stair in front of him; eventually coming to a stop in front of Haruka's house. He rang the doorbell and patiently waited at the front door for a minute or two before walking around to the back and entering through the other door, muttering an, "Excuse me..."

He walked straight down the short passageway in front of him and made a turn to enter the bathroom, finding a basket of what he assumed to be Haru's pajamas from the previous night.

"Naturally, he's here..." he mumbled, as he walked further into the bathroom, towards the bathtub; opening yet another door. "I'm coming in." He announced as he opened the sliding door.

Haru emerged from the water, flipping out his hair to dry it off, then looking at Makoto.

"Good morning, Haru-chan." he greeted his old friend happily, holding his hand out to the other teenager.

"I've been telling you for years, lay off the 'chan' already." Haru replied as he accepted the hand, revealing his striped swimsuit.

"You were wearing your swim suit in the bathtub again?" Makoto asked, looking at the item in question.

"Buzz off," Haru dismissed him, walking out of the bathroom, "You're going to be late."

"That's my line." Makoto whispered to himself.

* * *

"Mr. Tadokoro Junichi?" called a gentle-voiced woman.

"Here." a boy answered.

"Miss Tezuka Kaori?" she called out again.

"Here." a girl answered this time.

"Er...Miss Nanase Haruka?"

The entire room started snickering quietly at their new teachers mistake; this was a yearly occurrence if you'd been in any of his classes for the past few years, every last one of his teachers thought he was a she because he skipped nearly every entrance ceremony.

_I'm used to this; being mistaken for a girl. _He thought to himself, face deadpanned.

"Teacher," Makoto's hand flew up, "Haruka's a guy." he stated as he had for the past few years; making everybody laugh even louder at the mix-up.

"Oh my," she blushed slightly at the embarrassing error, "You're right, Mr. Tachibana; I'm very sorry, Mr. Nanase. You were absent yesterday, correct? I'm Amakata Miho, your new homeroom teacher, nice to meet you."

* * *

"So, about lunch..." Makoto started, moments after classed was dismissed for an hour, "You want to go on the roof and eat?"

Haruka sighed before standing up from his desk, "Fine."

* * *

"Gou what are you doing? Hurry up!" a ginger-haired girl called out to another girl with burgundy locks tied up.

"Wait a second! And don't call me Gou, Hanamura!" Gou yelled back before nearly getting bumped into by a baby-faced blond boy.

"Sorry!" he apologized, not caring to even stop his running.

She was about to give him a piece of her mind when she saw that hair; messy and blond, there was no way it couldn't be him!

* * *

"...I didn't bring a lunch." Haruka stated blankly, right in front of the entrance to the roof.

"Why don't you just go and buy something then?" Makoto asked, "Or, maybe you want some of this." he held out a small package of squid skins.

Haruka stared at it for a moment before the blond boy from earlier revealed himself from the bottom of the stairs. "Haru-chan! Makoto-chan!" The two boys turned towards the boy with the red tie, confused expressions on their faces, "It's been forever! I'll be joining you here at Iwatobi High School."

The two older boys looked at each other, "Mako-chan?" Makoto said questioningly.

"Haru-chan?" Haru said just as bewildered.

Then both of them had a mental click and they looked down the flight of stairs in surprisement, "Nagisa?!"

* * *

"How many years has it been?" Nagisa asked nostalgically, propping his elbows on the edge of the rooftop fence.

"I don't think I ever saw you after the old swimming club got shut down." Makoto said, doing the same.

He laughed a little, "Yeah, that's because I went to a different school than you and Haru-chan," he allowed his eyes to wander around the view before them before something caught his eye and he gasped. "There are cherry blossom trees next to the pool! Weren't there cherry blossom trees next to the pool at your grade school, Haru-chan?"

"Would you stop calling me Haru-chan?" the older boy asked, annoyance in his voice.

"But that's your name, Haru-chan." the baby-faced boy replied plainly, causing Hau to send him an peeved glance.

"That pool's old and not in use though," Makoto said, sad smile on his face, "And there's not even a swim club at this school."

"Eh? Where do you swim then?" Nagisa turned back to Haru.

"I quit swimming competitively." He said, gaze not wavering from the direction of the pool, trying to suppress the memory ready to surface once more.

"What?!" Nagisa's face scrunched into with apparent disappointment, "Why?! I was looking forward to getting to swim with you again in high school!"

"Were not little kids anymore... things aren't the way they used to be..." he voiced the last part a bit quieter.

"Haru-chan..." Nagisa said sorrowfully.

Makoto laughed lightly, "Well, he quit swimming competitively, but he still loves to be in water. He goes swimming in the ocean during the summer, and just this morning he was soaking in the bathtub."

"What does that have to do with swimming?" Nagisa inquired, "That just means that he likes baths." He turned back to Haru, suddenly excited once more, "I know! How about a hot springs club then?" he grabbed onto his shoulder and started shaking it, "Come on! Let's start a hot springs club!"

"No. I can't stand the heat."

They argued back and forth about it until the warning bell rang, five minutes to get back to class; so they shut up and began going down the flights of stairs to get back to their classes.

Then Nagisa turned abruptly turned around towards his senpais, "Hey?, did you hear? The swimming club that we went to in grade school is going to get torn down pretty soon." Haru's eyes widened, "So before that happens, why don't we make a little visit?"

"To dig that up?" Makoto asked.

"Yeah! We can sneak in at night and-"

"You can go by yourself." Haru cut in, walking ahead of the other two.

"Don't say that Haru-chan!" Nagisa called after him, "Come with us, Haru-chan." the pink-eyed boy begged.

"I'm not going." he stubbornly answered.

"Don't you think it'd be fun?"He said, persistent.

"I don't." He replied, unwilling.

Makoto chuckled quietly, "Why don't you just humor him, Haru?"

"No!" he got louder than before, "It's too much effort!"

"But you know," Makoto placed his hand under his chin in thought, "There's a swimming pool there," Haruka's eyebrows twitched slightly, "And a pool is much bigger then a little old bathtub." he smiled, knowing he had won when Haru looked at him with pleading eyes.

* * *

"You live all by yourself, Haru-chan?" Nagisa said, opening the door to his living room.

"Oh, that," Makoto said, "His mom went with his dad when they had to move for work."

"I see... that's too bad. I remember his grandmother died not too long before the relay; so he really is here all alone..."

"Ah, yeah, I guess." the olive-haired teen replied awkwardly.

The sudden crackle of flames called their attention back into the kitchen to an aproned Haru, who was frying fish as he had done in the morning.

"Eh? Fish again?" Makoto questioned, looking over the black-haired boy's shoulder.

"Nobody's forcing you to eat it." Haru stated dryly.

"Wow, it looks and smells good; you were always a great cook Haru-chan." Nagisa complemented.

"Er, yeah... but..." Makoto's face hardened, "Do you really think this is a good idea?"

"Hmm? You were all for this earlier, Mako-chan!" Nagisa said, disappointment filling his voice again, just to be replaced with a teasing tone, "Don't tell me you're still a scaredy cat."

"No. It's not that..." He blushed slightly, "I'm just wondering, do you really think that it's okay for us to just dig up the trophy without her?"

"We can't do anything about that, Mako-chan; Ren-chan isn't in Japan anymore, remember?"

Haru's memories started flowing back into his mind as he thought about the day when she said she would leave; he blankly stared at the fish as it all came back to him as it had this morning.

* * *

_The three 5th years stood in front of their graduation project, bricks all having select messages of their placers; the crisp early year's wind nipping any skin they had left uncovered._

_"I won't be attending middle school here." Ren stated bluntly, arms resting behind her head._

_Haru's eyes widened slightly and his mouth fell open the smallest bit, turning towards his female classmate._

_"Huh? What do you mean, Ren?" Makoto voiced his own shock, worry painted on his face._

_"I'm going to Australia." she answered plainly._

_"You mean you're going to a different country?"_

_"Yep, I'm going to a swimming school." she answered just as plainly as the last few times._

_Haru's brows knitted closer together and he turned away, looking slightly annoyed, "What are you trying to do?" he asked, eyes glued to the rows of colorfully decorated bricks._

_"I'm going to become an Olympic swimmer." she replied, a wide smile coming to her face._

_"Why didn't you tell us?" Makoto asked, "What about the relay?" his concern seemed to grow with every word._

_She let out a small giggle, starting to pace, "I'll swim in the relay." she said, "I'm going to leave after the tournament. So this will be the last time the four of us will swim together." She turned back to face the two; smile growing even wider, "Well, for now, that is."_

_Makoto would've been satisfied with that if it weren't for the fact the Haru looked like he was pretty upset about this, he looked at him with worry filled eyes._

_"I only swim freestyle." Haru stated monotonously._

_"That's why you have to swim in the relay, dummy." Ren said walking back over to Haru just to flick at his forehead, "This is our last chance for a long time. Let's swim together,Nanase."_

_Makoto observed the scene with growing unease, unsure if Haru would just run off and start babbling about how he's not going to swim with the other three in the relay; but Ren was playing her cards right, as long as she didn't unnecessarily strike any nerves, they would be fine. His worries ended, though, when Ren showed those chompers again, saying just what needed to be said to his old friend._

_"If you swim with me, Nanase," Haru turned and Ren's smile grew, no matter how impossible that seemed, "I'll show you a sight you've never seen before!"_

_The other two children blushed, no matter how much they attempted to hide it, and Ren soon followed suit, speaking gibberish, trying to take back what she had just said to the two friends._

* * *

"-ru-chan!" Haru snapped back into reality, the smell of burnt mackerel filling his nostrils; he quickly turned the flame off, but sadly not in time to save the blackened fish before him.

"What just happened, Haru?" Makoto questioned his old friend, worry lining all his features.

"Nothing. I was just thinking." Haru replied, going to the refrigerator to get another packet of mackerel.

* * *

"Well..." Makoto started shakily, shovel nearly dropping from his hands, "This place is pretty trashed." And boy was he right. The before clean, well-done image of a child swimmer had long been chipped away at and smeared; it gave a pretty creepy atmosphere to the place.

Nagisa then turned to the two seniors and took a folded piece of tissue from his front pocket and opened it up, "Here. Just in case; it's purifying salt."

"Salt?" Makoto asked, to confused to be scared.

"They say that this place is haunted." Nagisa said, suddenly serious.

"D-don't scare me." Makoto commented, scooting closer to Haru.

"I'm not lying!" Makoto flinched at Nagisa's abrupt yell, "People have been seeing shadows moving around this place and hearing sobbing voices."

Makoto looked like he was going to wet his pants as Nagisa started to sprinkle the salt on his friends clothing.

He then moved over the Haru, "Okay, you're up next, Haru-chan." And then Haru flinched, looking at his shoulder, where some of the 'salt' hand been thrown, eyes wide.

"Hey." He said.

"W-what is it?" Makoto asked in a squeaky voice.

"This isn't salt," Haru stated bluntly, taking a bit with his finger and putting it in his mouth, "It's sugar."

Nagisa laughed nervously, "It's all mental anyways," flipping on his flashlight, he pushed open the unlocked entrance, "So sugar will get the job done fine."

"Clichéd as hell..." Haru commented dryly, turning his head to the rotting walls of the inside of the building.

"It is one of the oldest mistakes out there..." Makoto said, following the others.

The crashing noise echoed off of the walls of the abandoned building, making Makoto jump behind Haruka; he was absolutely terrified.

"W-what?!" he cried out peeking his head out from behind Haru.

"My foot hit an empty can," Nagisa told the two, rubbing the back of his head nervously, "Sorry."

Makoto became slightly irritated and made a face at Nagisa, "You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?" he cried, just covering up the giggle from around the corner.

"You were always afraid of the dark..." A feminine voice whispered from around the corner.

* * *

"Wow, this sure brings back some old memories..." Nagisa said as they entered the old boys locker room.

"Yeah; and other than that, this place isn't nearly as trashed as I expected." Makoto said, looking around the room, continuing until they reached another door, opened.

"This place is..." Nagisa started, scratching his chin.

"It's the longue." Makoto said, entering the moonlit room.

Nagisa soon jumped ahead of him, stopping at a wall lined with many picture frames.

"Hey, hey, come over here you two!" The blond beckoned them to him, "Look," he started once they were at his side, "It's the picture from when we won the relay!"

Haru felt those memories coming back for the third time today, but didn't fight them; he let them wash over him like a wave, and he started to relive his life as a fifth year, like an out-of-body experience, he watched his younger self silently as if he were a completely different person.

* * *

_Ren swam the butterfly stroke as if she were a shark going after its lunch; her arms propelled her ahead of everyone else, and she managed to keep a good lead even after the turn; she eventually slammed her hands against the wall as the previous two had done, beckoning Haruka into the water._

_Haruka managed to more than double their team's lead before the turn, still keeping his graceful, dolphin-like stroke in tact; by the flip turn, all the other lanes were at least four or five seconds behind. Haruka ended up surfacing from the water first, having absolutely demolished the competition._

_After Makoto helped Haru out of the water, he was nearly tackled right back in by Nagisa and Ren, causing Makoto to chuckle lightly from the side; the two were so happy. They did it! They won!_

_**...**_

_Minutes later they were getting their photo taken, all of them were smiling widely but Haru, who had seemed slightly distracted and peeved by one of Ren's arm being slung over his shoulder._

_Nonetheless, she kept it there, and even tried to trick Haru into smiling; but to no avail, of course._

_The picture ended up being quite an odd one, Haru looking peeved, Ren pouting at him with the trophy her free arm, Makoto laughing while making a peace sign and Nagisa just smiling like an idiot with his arm around Ren's back._

_**...**_

_"The four of us won this together," Ren stated, gesturing to the relay trophy in the otherwise empty cookie tin, "So it doesn't make sense for just one person to take it home. So let's put it in a time capsule," she placed the cover on the tin, then stood up once more, "And dig it up when we're all grown up."_

_Her eyes then found their way to Haru, and he looked back, the former blushed slightly but still smiling managed to say, "Romantic, right?"_

_Haru looked away, the slightest blush tinting his cheeks._

* * *

"Haru," he snapped back to reality as he had earlier, back to the present, "Let's go, Haru." Makoto called from the entrance of the small room.

"Yeah..." He muttered, following Makoto and Nagisa out of the longue.

"Do you think that the marker will still be there?" Nagisa asked, walking into the hallway.

"C-can we pick up the pace a little?" Makoto asked, nervousness flooding his system once more; unexpectedly, the green-eyed teen clung to the back of Haru's blue hoodie, hearing footsteps from down the hallway.

The largest of the three let out a little squeal, backing up slightly as the moonlight started to reveal the silhouette.

It was a girl, that much was obvious to the trio from the chest of the person; she wore a turquoise tank top under a black sweater with two yellow stripes zig zagging across her chest down to her waist. The baseball cap she wore accompanied by her burgundy bangs covered her eyes, and ultimately her identity; but that didn't stop the blue-eyed boy of the trio from gasping at sight of the girl.

"Yo," she said, grabbing at the bill of her cap.

"Huh?" Nagisa mumbled to himself, "Who's that, Mako-chan?"

"I can't tell!" He whispered back, starting to tremble a bit.

The girl, er... young lady as they could tell from her voice, grabbed at the elastic strap off her hat, pulling it back, "I didn't really think that I'd run into you three her." And then she let it go with a little snapping noise.

Makoto and Nagisa's mouths fell agape as the both gasped, thinking back to the only girl they knew who did that.

_Ren!_

"Ren/Ren-chan!" they both vocalized their shock, watching as she took off her hat, showing those deep scarlet eyes and now grown out locks pulled back in a bun.

Nagisa recovered first, bouncing forward to the older female and grabbing onto her wrists, "You're back from Australia!"

Makoto calmed down substantially and stepped forward, smile coming to his face, "What are you doing here though, Ren?"

Nagisa turned around, excitedly, still holding onto one of Ren's wrists, "It must be fate! Some unseen force brought us all here at the exact same-"

"Haru," Ren cut Nagisa off, glaring at the younger teen, "You're still hanging out with these two idiots?" The two in question turned, expressions dampening, "You never learn, do you?"

"What are you talking about, Ren?" Makoto questioned, eye brows furrowing.

Before she could answer, Haru himself pushed his way into the conversation, "And what about you? Have you learned anything new? Been swimming much lately?"

"Haru?" Makoto turned to the water-maniac, shocked.

"I glad that you asked, Haru," She said, cracking her neck from side to side, "Why don't I show you? Let's race, Haru." Ren walked down the hallway, towards that old swimming pool.

"Race?" Makoto asked no one in particular as Haru wordlessly followed the girl they thought they knew, "O-oi! Haru!"

"Did they just ditch us?" Nagisa asked, staring at the pair's receding figures.

"Looks like it." Makoto said looking the shorter boy; they shared a moment of eye contact before they both ran off after their two friends.

"Wait up!" They yelled in unison.

* * *

"I'll show you just how far apart we are now," Ren threw off her jacket to the cold floor tiles.

"Sure," Haru threw his shirt to the floor, "Go ahead."

"Ah- they're going to swim here?!" Nagisa whispered is shock.

"Hey now wait a second..." Makoto thought for a second before gasping, "Wait up, Haru, Ren, that's a bad idea-" Makoto both internally and externally screamed as Haru's pants dropped to the floor, none other than those purple striped swimming trunks from this morning to be under them.

"Wait, you've been wearing those all day long?!" Makoto yelled, wide-mouthed.

"Ren-chan, too?!" Nagisa said, looking at what he could she of her toned body around that red striped two piece she was wearing.

"We have to stop them!" Makoto cried, looking at Nagisa.

"Do we really?" The shota asked, looking back up at his senpai.

"Oi!" He cried, exasperation sweeping his face.

Haruka and Ren's footsteps started to echo through the large, open area as they ran across the tiled floor; they stared into each other's eyes, never looking away until they jumped onto the starting blocks, and saw a completely empty pool.

"There isn't any water..." Nagisa stated, pointing his flashlight at a mouse running around on the pool floor.

"That's why I told you to stop..." Makoto sighed thankfully.

Ren clicked her tongue in annoyance as she walked away from the scene, "Lame..." she muttered as she pulled her tank top back over her upper half. "Oh yeah," she turned around once she pulled her sweatpants back on, "You guys came here for this, right?" she held out the trophy to them.

"Oh, our trophy." Nagisa said.

"I don't need this thing anymore." she spoke spitefully, stuffing it into Haru's arms before leaving the room.

"Hey, wait!" Makoto called after her.

"Ren-chan!" Nagisa followed suit.

She turned her head, looking at them with those scarlet eyes; now instead of their usual softness, they seemed to only hold hate and anger.

"What?" Ren asked, voice as coming off as cold as a blizzard.

"What... what happened?" Makoto inquired; Haru visibly flinched and Ren laughed lightly.

"Why don't you ask Haru?" she recommended before leaving them, slowly fading into the hallway.

* * *

Haru opened his eyes, sitting up in the grassy school grounds.

"A dream...?" He asked himself, rubbing at his eyes.

"No, it wasn't a dream!" Makoto whined at his friend.

"I still don't get it though," Nagisa wondered aloud, "Ren-chan was acting really weird; and what was that about 'why don't you ask Haru'? What happened, Haru-chan?"

Haruka laid back down, turning his back on the two of them.

"I don't know." He replied, propping his head on his arm.

**...**

From a distance, a girl, Ren's younger sister, Gou, observed the trio conversate.

"Hey," Her friend, Hanamura walked up from behind her, "Do you know those three?"

"Yeah." She nodded at the other girl, closing her bright red eyes momentarily.

"Nanase Haruka, Tachibana Makoto and Hazuki Nagisa; what they all have in common is that they all used to be on the same swim club back in grade school." She froze, shifting her weight to her right leg. "There's that, and the fact that they all have pretty girly names for boys."

"What's your relationship with them?" Hanamura whispered into her ear.

Gou brought her index finger to her lips, "That's a secret."

"Well, that means you have something in common with them, too," the ginger-haired girl said in a hushed voice, "Since you're a girl with a boyish name."

"Seriously..." she clenched her fists in anger, "Stop calling me Gou, would you?!"

* * *

"Come on! The place may be abandoned, but it's still trespassing if you enter a place without any kind of permission. Do you understand?" The male teacher scolded in his gruff voice.

"I apologize, sir." Makoto said, bowing his head slightly.

"We're so sorry, sir." Nagisa did the same.

The old teacher sighed before looking back up at the two, a bit confused, "Where's Nanase?" he asked.

"He left for home earlier this afternoon." Makoto answered.

"Again?" The older man sighed as Haru and Makoto's homeroom teacher bounced to the scene.

"Now,now, I think that's enough." She said gently, "Think back to what Li Bai said once." Her finger pointed to the air as she seemed to impersonate somebody, "In human life, accomplishment must bring total joy. Do not allow an empty goblet to face the moon. You only have one life, so you should do what you want. It would be foolish not to drink from the glass placed before you... Right?"

The three males all stared at her, completely dumbfounded.

"Huh?"

* * *

"Matsuoka Ren, Matsuoka Ren..." Nagisa muttered as he scanned all of the labeled shoe lockers with Makoto, "Does he really go to our school?"

"Well, considering the fact that we saw her last night, she's probably transferred back to Japan; and that means she could be going to school here." Makoto stated, running his hand along the rows of lockers.

"But I didn't see her at the opening ceremony..." Nagisa said, questioning Makoto's reasoning.

"Ah-" Makoto's hand ran over a locker labelled Matsuoka and quickly called Nagisa over, "Found him!"

"Really?"

"Oh, wait a second," Makoto inspected the label a bit more closely, "Matsuoka Gou? Sounds familiar..." he thought hard for a minute, "Oh wait, now I remember! That's Ren's younger sister, Matsuoka Gou!"

* * *

Haru found himself in the bathtub once more, now wearing a different pair of swimming trunks if you squinted; when the doorbell rang, he figured if it was anyone important, they would know that they could get through the back, so he just ignored it and dunked himself into the water.

Gou, the one ringing the doorbell persistently waited at the door, ringing it again and again; just when she was about to leave, she turned around to find two familiar faces staring at her.

**...**

"So you also chose Iwatobi High School, Gou-chan." Nagisa said, sitting down under the shade of the gazebo.

"Don't call me Gou! Everybody calls me Kou." She said.

"Huh? Why? Your name is Gou, like the Sengoku warlord Azai Nagamasa's third daughter, right?"

"Yeah..." she pouted at him, "But the typical reading for girls is 'Kou', so just call me that; that would be the nice thing to do."

The two seemed ready to but head when Makoto interrupted, "Uh, putting all that aside..."

"That stuff?" Gou question angrily, glaring the olive-haired teen down.

"Sorry..." He said weakly, "But just what were you doing at Haru's place?"

"Oh..." She blushed slightly, twiddling her fingers, "I wanted to ask him about my sister."

"So Ren really is back from Australia."

"He returned last month and he's attending Samezuka Academy now," she replied sadly. "It's a boarding school so he never comes home."

"Samezuka?" Makoto's mouth fell agape, "The swimming powerhouse?!"

* * *

"No." Haru said firmly, beginning to dry his hair.

"Come on, Haru-chan! Let's visit Samezuka Academy!" Nagisa whined.

"Don't you want to see Ren?" Makoto added on.

"We saw her yesterday." Haru replied plainly.

Makoto sighed,"And here I thought you would finally get to swim if you came," Haru froze in place. "Samezuka_ is_ supposed to have an indoor pool, after all."

Haru looked up at his old friend, eyes shimmering.

**...**

The train car rumbled back and forth as it made its way to Samezuka's surrounding area; Nagisa snored lightly as he leaned onto Haru's shoulder, and Makoto ending up leaning on the blond.

Haru sighed, looking at his reflection in the window, watching the beautiful view get shadowed over by gray clouds and tall trees sprouting the the nearby mountain tops.

* * *

The small group of three ducked their heads as they tip-toed around the outside of Samezuka's pool building, jumping into the bushes when they heard orders starting to echo off the walls of the indoor pool.

"Do you see Ren-chan in there?" Nagisa asked, popping his head up to look in through a low window.

"Can't find her," Makoto said, squatting next to him, "Maybe she's out today." He turned around, "Hey Haru..." Haru had already unbuttoned his white dress shirt and undid his tie, and was starting to undo his belt. "Don't undress here!" Makoto scolded.

"You're the one who brought me here to swim!" Haru yelled back at him, looking ready to lash out.

Nagisa got in between the two, pushing them apart, "Hold on a second, Haru-chan. Why don't we wait until practice is over and everyone's gone?" Haru backed off, visibly calming, "Okay?"

"That'll still be trespassing though..." Makoto said.

"Don't worry!" Nagisa winked at the taller teen, "That teacher from earlier told us to do what we want with our li-"

The ringing of a belt hitting the floor grabbed their attention as Haru stripped his pants to show he was once again wearing one of those purple stripped trunks.

"Can't you wait?!"

**...**

The indoor pool had been emptied of all the swimmers and the earlier clear orangish-red sky was now filled with spotted with clouds and was colored a deep blue; it would be a beautiful sight if it weren't for all those dark clouds.

The trio, led by Haruka entered the pool building, who started to strip the moment he got a meter from the water.

"I still think this is bad idea..." Makoto nervously looked around to make sure they were alone, just as Haru jumped out of his pants, "Wait!" A splash. "Come on..."

"He still reminds me of a dolphin." Nagisa's pearl eyes lit up, "Mako-chan, let's swim with him!"

"No! We'll get in trouble if anybody finds us!" Nagisa unbuttoned his blazer, "Besides, we need to look for Ren."

"We can take a little dip first," He stripped off his clothes from the waist up, "Nobody'll find us as long as we don't turn on the lights in here." he moved onto his pants.

"But you didn't bring a swims-" Makoto's mouth fell to the floor as Nagisa threw all his clothes to the tiled floor.

"A little skinny-dip won't hurt." He mused as he ran towards the pool, "I can swim!" he yelled as he cannonballed into the water. Once the splashed water settled back into place, Nagisa beckoned Makoto to the water.

"What now?" He rubbed at his temples, "I'm not going to join you." the blond giggled, thinking otherwise; he grabbed at his leg and threw of Makoto's balance, sending him flying into the water.

He rose to the surface slowly, unruly bangs covering his eyes, then the little shota started laughing hysterically.

"You looked like an elephant falling in!" he said in between snorts.

"Seriously," Makoto grumbled, throwing his soaked shirt to the pool's edge, "Nagisa..."

"Take that!" Nagisa thrusted his arm, splashing at the green-eyed teen.

"Hey!" A smile broke out on his face, "There!" he splashed right back.

"Take that!"

"Take that!"

Take th-"

"What are you idiots doing here?" Ren's cut in.

"Ren." Makoto said simply.

"We came here to see you, Ren-chan!" Nagisa waved.

She shot them all cold glares, "Get out!"

"Ren-chan..." He arm lowered reluctantly.

Gracefully, Haru made his way to the others; he silently allowed his head to surface, hair dripping with droplets of water.

"Free..." He mumbled.

"Huh?" Ren's face scrunched up in confusion.

"Did you forget?" An image of the old Ren flashed across his eyes, "I told you I only swim freestyle."

"Haru-chan?"

"Haru..."

He pulled himself out of the pool, black bangs covering his eyes. _About three years until I'm ordinary... I guess it wouldn't hurt to wait a little bit longer._

He flipped his hair, a seldom smile gracing his lips, "I want you to show me that sight again, Ren; I've forgotten exactly what it was that I saw that day."

The girl's brows furrowed before a smug smirk found its way onto her face, "Sure, I can do that; but I promise you it won't be the same this time! I'll be showing you something completely different."

* * *

**Whew! That took a while! If you cannot already tell, I'm basically only going to change the episodes slowly adding on different things as it proceeds. This length thing is completely different than anything I've ever written, so I'd appreciate some opinions and feedback. See you next water time!~**


	3. Borrowing Rules: To Burn or Not to Burn

**Once again, thanks to IApproveThisMessage and MaidenWarrior for the reviews! They're very appreciated. And before I forget to point it out, I made a cover image for the story. (That last one wasn't mine.) Anyways, on with the chapter. (This is where you'll start to see those little changes happening.)**

**Chapter 2**

**The Rules of Borrowing: To Burn or Not to Burn**

* * *

They each stood on a starting block, Ren having stripped down to her red-stripped to two piece, ready to go.

"As always, I can't understand what going through your head," Ren said, adjusting her goggles.

"Whatever. You better be ready, Ren." Haru put on his as well.

"Well," a smug smile came to her face once more, "You're just as icy as ever. Yeah..." the smile disappeared, "You really piss me off."

Haru turned to Makoto, unfazed by the redhead's words, "Makoto," he began, "Give us the starting signal."

"Ah... okay." he agreed, face stiffening.

"Good. We'll race 100 meters," she paused for a moment to look at Haru, "Freestyle."

The slow pitter-patter of rain began to resound throughout the high-ceilinged building as the grey clouds from above started to rumble with thunder, causing Makoto to look up in worry; they still had to go catch a train to get back to the Iwatobi area.

"Makoto!" Ren roared, "Let's get on with this race."

"Okay, okay," Makoto fumbled about, "Ready..." the pair leaned over on their select starting blocks, "Go!" his voice resounded in the room, just to be interrupted by the splashes from their entries to the water.

"Wow! Ren-chan has a stronger kick than before!" Nagisa observed from the sidelines.

"Yeah," Makoto agreed, "But Haru's stroke is still faster."

The two rivals put force into their arms, propelling them forward at new speeds; being in each other's presence encouraged them to rage on. They continued aggressively, and at the flip turn, Ren used her newfound leg strength to get a lead on Haruka.

Though, after two turns, Ren inched her way ahead of Haru.

The blue-eyed boy, noticing this, put more effort into his stroke, making them equal as they were earlier, they were so close to the wall, and it seemed as if Haru's longer, more slender arms would win him this race; that's when the lightning struck.

The roof, being as it was, gave the four a prime view of the lightning that hit fairly close to their location, but at the same time it blinded them all momentarily. When the flash left their sights, both Haruka and Ren had a hand on the wall; Ren's teeth gritted in anger through her labored breaths and Haru's face showed no change as he slid his goggles down for them to settle around his neck.

"Well, there's no way of telling who-"

"She won," Haru cut off Makoto, "That's great, Ren."

She glared at him, sharp teeth grinding against each other, "That's great?" Ren reached over into the next lane, grabbing Haru by the goggles. "Lookie here, Haru, I-"

"Oi!" A deep, scraggy voice struck the group's ears, "What are you doing here this late without supervision?!"

* * *

Ren sat awake in her bedroom, slightly damp blazer on her lap; she was still thinking about what happened earlier that evening, still in a daze.

**_..._**

_"Um... you see, we were..." Nagisa tried to think up an excuse._

_"What schools are you from? Besides you, Matsuoka-kun." The male teacher's voice kept stern and unwavering._

_"Um, we're all from Iwatobi High School, sir." Makoto spoke from them._

_"Iwatobi, huh? You guys came a ways here just to break into our pool? Expect __discipline tomorrow morning from your teachers; now, get out of here!" His yell resounded._

_Haru and Ren quickly made their way out of the pool and got their clothes back on in record time; all of them had almost made it out the door when the teacher stopped Ren._

_"I expected more from you, Matsuoka-kun. Your grades are amazing, you're an amazing swimmer, and you're a role model for all the others here. But I feel like you're starting to make me regret pushing for female students here." He put his coarse hand on her shoulder, "Don't screw this up for everyone else. Your roommate, and not to mention all those other girls, worked hard to get here. This is a prestigious school and I'll be damned if you ruin our reputation by hanging with a bad crowd. People like-"_

_"They're not a bad crowd!" Ren blurted out, blush suddenly exploding on her face._

_"...Huh, you sure feel strongly about them. Childhood friends?" His interest was suddenly piqued._

_She silently but reluctantly nods her head, avoiding eye contact._

_"Oh, I see." His hands fell to his sides again, "I'm just looking out for you, Matsouka-kun. A young woman like you in a sea of guys is bound to get into trouble one way or another. Especially if you plan on joining the swim team, my son, the captain, he'll fall for you like a sakura petal in spring. The other guys, too." he let out a fond chuckle._

_Ren made a mental note to avoid the captain as much as possible, since she had decided earlier to join the swim club relatively soon._

_"Anyways," She awkwardly shifted her weight to her right side, "You need their names, right?"_

_"Oh, yes. That would probably be helpful." He rubbed the back of his neck nervously._

_"Nagisa Hazuki, 1st year, Makoto Tachibana, 2nd year, and Haruka Nanase, also a 2nd year." she informed._

_"But those were all guys...?"_

_"Yes, yes, they just have girly names." she sighed, that was such an old mistake._

_"Ah, who am I kidding, you have a guy's name. You fit in with them well." he laughed lightly._

_"Yes, sir, now may I be excused to my dorm?" She looked up at him, fingers crossed behind her white pleated skirt._

_"You are excused." he nodded. "But I would recommend to hurry up, before this weather gets any worse." As if on cue, their were more __lightning strikes__ accompanied with __thunder rumbles__._

_"Yes, sir," she bowed her head, before speed-walking out the exit; the second she exited the lobby, she was struck instantly wet._

_"Damnit," She seethed out, "How am I going to attend classes tomorrow like this?" she looked at her white uniform, which was quickly starting to become see-through._

_"Here," a black, surprisingly dry blazer got placed over her shoulders, "Take it." her head flew to get a better angle of who gave it to her; Haru stood there, Nagisa and Makoto standing behind him._

_"No!" she pushed it away, back into his arms, "I don't need your help!" she urged._

_"Your uniform says otherwise." Haru pointed down to her jacket, which had basically become dead weight, not covering anything but the tank under it; and the tank was getting pretty soaked as well._

_"Yeah, so?" She glared at the boy, blushing, "You're getting soaked, too." she pointed right back at him, his white button-up was completely see-through as Makoto's was._

_"Well it's no problem if a guy walks around like this, I'm pretty sure I'll be better off than you; I have an extra at home." She felt the rain droplets soak through to her skin, everything was wet._

_"Fine," she tore the blazer out of his arms, "But don't come crying to me if it mysteriously disappears." She stormed off towards the new girls' dorms, the blazer covering her up._

**_..._**

And now, she was sitting in dorm, wondering just what to do with the blazer; she laid down on her back, taking in everything in the room. Her roommate, Ai, quietly snoring from the top bunk of the bed, the digital clock that read '2:30', the calmness of everything; the rain had stopped soon after she entered her dorm, as if to taunt the girl.

"Maybe I could burn this..." She mused aloud.

Right as she felt like she was going to drift off, her phone lit up, rumbling about the bed; Ren grabbed it, looking at the screen.

"Gou?" She asked herself, opening up the text message, "...Damn it!" she grumbled, throwing away her phone to the opposite side of the bed; it read, 'Did you get to see Nanase-san and the others?'.

"Does this mean that I can never truly beat that idiot?" She ran a hand through her then-unruly hair, "No... Mom paid a lot for this... I can't let her and Dad down... I just can't."

* * *

"You idiots!" the teacher repeated for the second day in a row, "Do you actually feel bad about what you've done?!"

"S-sorry." Both Nagisa and Makoto bow their heads.

"First you trespass into an abandoned building and now another school's pool?!" He sighed, out of breath, rubbing his temples, "Honestly, we're fortunate that they agreed not to make a big deal out of this."

"Now, now, now, I think that's enough," Ms. Amakata claimed, walking up to the boys, "There's a famous saying that applies to this situation. "In ancient China, during the Shang dynasty, Duke Tai of Gu would fish without any bait-"

"I hate fish." The male teacher said, staring at the woman oddly.

"Ex-excuse me." she apologized, bowing her head."

* * *

"Ama-chan-sensei wasn't much help," Nagisa sighed.

"I wonder how that fish saying goes, though." Makoto mumbled, "Hey, Haru, do you-?" he turned to see the blue-eyed teen had vanished.

"Haru-chan's over there." Nagisa pointed out, looking ahead.

"When did that happen?" Makoto murmured, before turning to see a certain redhead walking towards them.

"Gou-chan!" Nagisa greeted the girl.

"I told you to call me Kou, not Gou!" she fumed.

"Does it really matter?" the blond asked.

"Yes, it matters, I'm Kou!" she yelled.

"Gou." Nagisa said simply.

"Kou!" she yelled once more, frustrated at the other teenager.

"Gou."

"Kou!"

"Kou." he said.

"Gou!" she snapped, before digging her nails into her head in anger, "Damn you!"

**...**

"So were you able to see Onee-chan?" Gou asked hopefully.

"Yeah, about that, Ren-chan's gotten so mean!" the blond whined out,"We haven't seen each other in five years and the first thing she did was challenge Haru to a race!" He sighed, "She completely ignored me and Makoto outside of insulting us; we didn't get a chance to talk about anything!"

"Have you heard anything from Ren, Kou-chan?" Makoto questioned.

The girl shook her head sadly, "I've sent him texts and called her cell phone without any luck. I even called his dorm number, and nobody picked up."

"How come Ren-chan's changed so much? Did something happen to her in Australia?" Nagisa asked, worried.

Gou's gaze fell low, "I don't know; I was hoping that she would open up after meeting up with you guys but..."

"Wait a second, are you the one responsible for Ren showing up at the swim club the other day?" Makoto asked, puzzles being solved in his mind.

"I-I wouldn't say that I was responsible..." She replied nervously, "I was just trying to help; I overheard your conversation yesterday and couldn't help it, I sent her a text and she never replied. I'm sorry."

"Wait, so is that why you were at Haru's place yesterday?" Makoto kept his questions coming.

"Yeah, I kind of assumed he had answers. You see, she's been back for a month now, so I thought that she'd at least met up with Haruka-senpai by now." She sighed sadly.

"Hey, wait. I have a great idea!" Nagisa beamed brightly, "Let's start a swimming club! Then we can see Ren-chan at tournaments!"

"I'm not quite sure Haru would be on board with that idea..." Makoto admitted.

* * *

"Whatever." he said in that monotonous voice of his, "Knock yourself out."

"Really?!" Nagisa exclaimed, "Yay! We're good to go then; I'm so excited!"

**...**

Haru dried his hair with a small blue towel, still in his swim trunks; he stood in his living room in front of Makoto, Nagisa and Gou.

"Are you sure about this?" Makoto asked, referring to moments ago, "We won't be doing this all by ourselves;you're expected to join the club as well, Haru."

"I know." he notified his friend.

**...**

'Don't look, don't look! Girls my age shouldn't be looking at half-naked men! Honestly, how does Ren be in all these swimming programs without dying of embarrassment?' Gou thought, turning around, hands over her eyes, 'Must...not...look.' She strained herself, but eventually gave in; her arms fell to the the tatami floor tiles.

She watched as Haru brought the towel from his hair to his biceps, leaving his bare triceps visible to Gou; the girl silently fawned over him from the other side of the room, blush tinting her cheeks. 'What incredible triceps!' she thought.

"Oh yeah, Haru-chan wasn't with us the other day," Nagisa said looking over to Gou, who quickly recovered from her ogle-mode, "This is Ren-chan's younger sister."

"H-hello," Gou greeted her senpai, "It's been a long time, Haru-senpai."

"Matsuoka," he paused momentarily, thinking, "Kou."

She smiled widely at the older boy, happy he wasn't being as obnoxious as his friend, "Yes! I'm sorry about what my sister did yesterday."

Pulling a sweatshirt on over his upper half, Haru walked towards his kitchen with an apron in hand, "Don't sweat it."

"Oh," Makoto called after him, "If you're making tea, I still have some squid from the other day to go with it."

"Eh? Wouldn't chocolate go better with tea?" Nagisa pointed out.

"We'll compromise and have makrel." Haru announced.

"That's no compromise!" Nagisa whined.

**...**

"Oh, so is this the first time Ren's come back to Japan ever since she left to Australia?" Makoto sipped on his tea.

"Huh?" She cocked her head, "She came back every year during New Years."

"What? Really? And he never told us?!" Haru stiffened from the kitchen, Makoto looked at him in confusion, "That's mean of her."

* * *

"Since everyone is on board, I picked up a new club application form for us!" Nagisa exclaimed excited to his two old friends; they were eating lunch on the roof.

"Wow, you're sure moving fast here." Makoto commented.

"Of course!" Nagisa said, "It's important to get the ball rolling!" He then paused, eyes flashing down to the piece of paper in his hands. "Let's see... the purpose of this club is to train our bodies and our minds through swimming, and to improve the school experience."

"You sure know what you're doing." Makoto observed.

"There will be three members initially; Mako-chan you can be the captain." Nagisa stated.

"Wait, shouldn't it be Haru?" Makoto said, confused, "He's the fastest swimmer of the three of us."

"This isn't about speed," the blond claimed, "Different people are different at different things."

Makoto tried to imagine Haru as a captain, but just ended up scaring himself with his own imagination, "Yeah, you're right..."

"Okay then, that settles it! Mako-chan will be our captain and Haru-chan will be our vice-captain!"

"Hey," Haru turned to him, "Don't just go volunteering me."

"Now, now, now," Nagisa coaxed, "Vice-captain is actually an empty title with no actual responsibilities, so there's no need to worry."

"You just offended every vice-captain on the planet." Makoto accused.

Ignoring him, Nagisa continued, "I'll be the treasurer, which means all we need is a faculty advisor."

"Any ideas?" Makoto asked.

"Actually," Nagisa giggled, "I was thinking of asking Ama-chan-sensei."

"Ama-chan sensei?" Makoto repeated, as if to confirm what he had heard.

"Yeah," the pink-eyed boy nodded, " I heard this crazy story from one of my classmates!"

**...**

"Eh?" she questioned in her gentle voice, "I'm sorry, I can't do it. Sports aren't my thing," she smiled nervously. "I mean, I teach classical literature."

"But I heard that until sometime last year, you had a job in Tokyo that involved swimsuits." Nagisa admitted innocently.

Her face paled as she got closer to Makoto and Nagisa, "Hey!" she whispered, "Not so loud! Who'd you hear that from?"

"It was Nashimoto-kun from our class." the blond replied.

"Amakata-sensei, did you work for a swimsuit designer?" Makoto inquired.

"W-well, yes, you could say that..." she answered.

"In that case," Makoto urged excitedly, "We would be thrilled if you could advise us on the technology that goes into competitive swim wear!"

"Eh?"

"Advise us." the two boys insisted.

"Eh?!"

"Please!" They begged, bowing their heads.

"If... if you really need me." She gave in.

"Thank you very much!" Makoto said.

"Yay!"

* * *

"I'm Masuoka Ren's sister; I'm here to see my sister." Gou told the male receptionist.

He looked down to the piles of paper on his desk before looking back to Gou, "Oh, looks like Matsuoka-kun isn't back yet."

"Really." Gou muttered sadly.

**...**

"Excuse me..." She said as she entered the viewing area for Samezuka's pool, before her mouth fell agape in utter amazement.

'Incredible.' She thought, 'Totally a prestigious school's swimming club. Triceps and pecs everywhere! They're gorgeous!' she then turned to see one of the hunks walking towards her.

"Hey," He said, "So it's you? The one who's looking for her older sister?"

"O-oh," She muttered, blushing, "Yes." she nodded.

Suddenly, something clicked in the older guy's mind, "H-hold on a minute..." his golden eyes shimmered, and he blushed, "You know, you're pretty cute."

"Thank you," She giggled, "I was here looking for my sister, Matsuoka Ren."

"Sister?" He asked, "We only have one girl in our club, and her name isn't Ren; it's Ai. Besides, there's nobody on our swim team that goes by the name 'Matsuoka'."

"Huh?"

* * *

Ren stood there, in front of a wall of picture frames that held one vacant spot; the picture that Haru and the others took had once occupied it. But that wasn't the photo she had come for.

She stared at a photo that was placed higher on the wall, one with a completely different group of four from the one that she, Haru and the others had formed years ago.

Tears stinging at her scarlet eyes, she mumbled a single 'Oyaji' before grabbing the old, chipped frame off the wall and walking out of the aged building.

* * *

"Now," Miho announced to the three students, piece of paper in hand, "In regards to the charter that you three submitted... After strict review by the faculty, it was approved!"

"Really?" Makoto asked, unsure if he had heard right.

"Awesome!" Nagisa squealed, "I knew we could count on a former swimwear company employee!"

"T-that's right..." the older woman mumbled. "This is what I can do when I put my mind to it." She looked them right in the eyes, suddenly serious, "However, a school organization is required to have at least four members, so you guys will have to find another person to join. And then there's one more condition..."

"No problem!" Nagisa replied.

"I'm willing to do anything!" Makoto added on.

**...**

Weeds sprouted from the old pool floor, rotting wood lay about and there was grime, dirt and trash almost completely littering the fenced in area.

"Wow," Nagisa observed, almost comically, "There's so much nature."

"Are you saying that..." Makoto started.

"Yes." The teacher answered, "You must restore the pool to a useable condition."

Haru and Makoto both started to back away, ready to run out on this plan; Miho grabbed Haru's arm and Nagisa grabbed Makoto's.

"You're not allowed to run away, Mako-chan."

"That's right, you said you were willing to do anything."

Makoto's nervous smile quivered and Haru looked at the two in disbelief.

***One Work Sequence Later***

"Haru?" Makoto called out as he walked onto the roof, "Huh? He's not here." He looked in the direction of the old pool, noticing movement; it was Haru, blazer thrown to the side, scrubbing away at the dirty pool floor. He smiled.

* * *

"Wow," Miho admired off to the side on her lounge chair, "It's cleaned up rather nicely."

"Can't you get off of that chair and come help us?!" Nagisa whined.

"Do you even realise what you're saying?" She clutched her parasol tighter, "The UV rays at this time of the year are absolutely brutal. You're still young so it's not an issue to you."

**...**

"This is pretty fun," Makoto smiled, "It feels like we're in grade school again."

"Grade schoolers wouldn't be asked to fix a pool." Haru stated grumpily.

Makoto laughed, "True."

**...**

"Wow!" Gou cried as she walked through the gate, "It's all cleaned up!"

"Ah!" Nagisa ceased his work, standing, "You came here to help, Gou-chan?!"

"I told you, call me Kou!" she took out a bag from behind her back, "Otherwise you don't get any of this."

"What?" he asked shocked, "No way!"

* * *

Ren sat on her bed, arm extended so she could properly view the photo she had taken from the swimming club earlier; her gaze never faltered from the one boy holding that golden dolphin trophy, the boy with the fangs she had when she was younger.

* * *

"Hey, you!" Nagisa called out to a tall, blue-haired bespectacled guy, "Interested in joining the swimming club?"

He pushed up his red framed glasses on either side, "I've already decided to join the track team."

**...**

"Hey, hey," Nagisa now wore goggles and a swim cap and carried around a kickboard, "Let's have fun swimming together!"

Two taller guys stared at him awkwardly, "Why would you want to swim in a pool when the ocean is so close?"

**...**

"If you join now," He addressed a small group of passers by, "You'll receive a year's supply worth of Iwatobi's mascot character, Iwatobi-chan!"

"No thanks..." They all answered in unison.

**...**

"No luck," the blond complained, plopping down on a bench, "Nobody wants to join!"

"It's starting to look like we fixed the pool for nothing." Makoto added on.

Nagisa sat up suddenly, "Don't say that!" his and Makoto's attention got tugged to Haru all of a sudden, hearing him carve away at another Iwatobi-chan doll diligently.

"It's time to use our last resort," the youngest of the three urged, "We have to get Ama-chan to give the shirt off her back for us!"

"How so?" Makoto questioned.

"We'll advertise that Ama-chan is our club's advisor, and tell everyone that they'll get to see her in a swimsuit if they join!"

"I-I see. That's giving the shirt off her back alright." Makoto said.

"Ex-cu-se me~" The woman in question walked into the room, she was eluding a terrifying aura. "If you do that," she placed her hands on her hips, "I'll quit this immediately. I swore to myself that I'd never put on another swimsuit again! Understood?" an eerily happy smile came to her lips.

"Y-yes."

* * *

"I'll leave the juice here," Gou announced, walking up to Makoto.

"Thanks." He shot her a smile.

"I don't quite get it though," she said, squatting down next to the older guy.

"Get what?"

"Why didn't you and Haruka-senpai start a swimming club when you were first years?"

"Haru just wasn't interested at the time." Makoto answered.

"But he's such a good swimmer." she said.

"Haru joined the swim club in middle school," the olive-haired boy explained, "But he quit at the end of the first year."

"Did something happen?" Gou pushed.

"No idea," Makto said, "If something did happen, he sure didn't want to talk about it. Our old swimming club was shut down around the same time, and Haru hasn't done any competitive swimming ever since."

Her mouth formed an 'O', "So he wanted to quit swimming."

"Probably." Makoto agreed.

"I wonder if my sister's the same way..." Makoto pushed her to explain further with his eyes, "I was looking for my sister the other day, and found out that she's not on the swimming team at Samezuka; she's already been going there for an entire month now, too."

"No way! I mean, she just raced Haru, and..."

"She must have lost." the younger teen finished the sentence, "That's why she's given up on swimming."

"No, that can't be it. I mean, when they raced the other night, there was no way of telling who won. Haru said she had won, but she just got mad and probably would have gotten a lot more mad if a teacher hadn't walked in."

"Eh?"

"Didn't Ren tell you?" Makoto asked.

"She didn't respond to my text, so I thought that she was upset over losing or something." Gou looked down.

"She didn't seem very happy over what Haru said, though."

"What did he say?" Gou inquired.

"Well, it was storming the other night, so lightning made it impossible to tell who won," Makoto explained, "And then Haru insisted on the fact that Ren won; I'm guessing she took it as him pitying her somehow."

"Oh." She stared, kind of confused by her sister.

"But I don't believe that." Makoto continued, "Haru just wanted to swim; he's back to his old self now, though. You're sister is a miracle worker or something." They both found themselves laughing.

"But I can only wonder," The smile disappeared from Gou's face, "Could any of you guys make Ren go back to her old self?" She found herself thinking about the day the four old friends had won the relay; how Ren and Nagisa tackled Haru, just how happy Ren looked that day. She wanted her sister to look like that _now_. It was a lot to ask for, but maybe...

_Maybe Haruka-senpai could bring the old her back..._

"You still need one more member, right?" Gou asked, eyes glues to the pavement.

"Ah, yeah, that's right." Makoto answered.

"Please," she grabbed his arms, "Let me join!" Makoto's mouth fell open, as it had been doing a lot lately. "Haruka- er, you guys are the only guys that can change my sister. If you're willing to have me," she smiled, getting louder, "I can serve as your manager and help you all out."

"Oh, oh," Nagisa called out from his spot on the pool floor,"What's going on?"

"Kou-chan has offered to join the swim club!" Makoto announced excitedly.

"Eh?! Really?" He jumped up to a standing position, smiling ear to ear, "The swim club is officially open for business! Yay!" Makoto laughed and Haru, though a much smaller on than Nagisa's, allowed his lips to curve upwards into a rare smile.

* * *

"Oh, that's wonderful news, honey." Ms. Tachibana concluded from the kitchen, "This means that you'll get to swim with everyone again."

"Yeah," Makoto confirmed,"But we still have a lot of prep work to do."

"Speaking of which," his father brought up, "I believe the swim club that you used to go to is finally being torn down."

**...**

Makoto stared at the building he was sneaking around in a few days earlier, prominent frown on his face.

"Hurts, right?" An older blond man said from behind, "It's not easy to watch as your memories are destroyed before your eyes. Were you a part of this club?" Makoto looked at him awkwardly, searching through his mind to see if he had ever met this guy before, "Well, you just can't go against the times; it's sad."

Makoto finally realized, gasping loudly, "Wait, Coach Sasabe?!"

"Eh?" He hadn't been called that in a long time.

"It's me," he pointed at himself, "Makoto! Tachibana Makoto!"

After a moment, the man let out a hearty laugh, "You got really big Makoto!"

"It's been too long!" Makoto said.

"Well, I work part-time as a pizza-delivery man now," He said, patting his small vehicle, "Did you come here for one last glimpse?"

"Is that why you're here?" He asked.

"I thought I'd drop by on my way back from a delivery," he stated, "Are the boys and Ren doing well?"

"Yeah; I go to the same school as Haru and Nagisa."

"Are you still friends with Ren?" he pushed.

"Oh, yeah..." His green eyes fell to the sidewalk, "She goes to a different school, though."

"She's back from Australia, right?" Sasabe concluded, "She looked pretty glum the last time that I saw her, so I was a little worried."

"Glum?" Makoto wondered at what point of the day of the relay Ren looked glum, at least when the coach was in the room.

"Haruka didn't mention it?" The old swimming coach raised his brows, "I think it was during the winter of your first year of middle school; I was closing down the place for the end of the year when those two showed up. Apparently they ran into each other while Ren was back home."

"Did they have a race?" Makoto reluctantly questioned, looking back up.

"You bet they did. And Haru won easily." The younger one's mouth fell open, "Ren was pretty upset about it, too. Can't blame her, though; she went to a swimming school abroad, and it didn't even make a difference."

Makoto's gaze had fallen low once more, "Is something wrong?" his previous coach inquired.

"No..." _I see... So that's why Haru quit swimming competitively. It's because he hurt Ren._

**...**

As Makoto walked home, he decided to take in the view as he had done many times before; he stood at the side of a winding hillside road, dialing a phone number he had received from Gou earlier that day.

After several rings, the phone answered, "The customer that you have called is currently unable to answer. Please leave your name and message after the tone." there was a shrill ring.

"Ren? It's me, Makoto. We're starting up a swim club."

**...**

"...So you should join the swim team. We might just get to swim together in a tournament." Her phone transferred the message to the still room, excluding Ren's rising and falling chest.

"You don't need to tell me that..." She mumbled, knowing that her voice wouldn't be heard, "I already decided to join the swim team; however, I'm not doing this for a chance to swim with you guys."

* * *

**Okay, okay, explanation time! As for why Ren defended them, she had her good reasons; she hung out with the three for long enough where she knew that they were all trustworthy guys. She knows that they wouldn't do her or anyone else any wrong... well in matters outside of swimming. If it's out of the pool, it's there's a lot less built-up frustration. I want to attempt to make Ren more mentally stable than Rin, but I think that's going to take some work.**

**Anyways, see you next water time! ~**


	4. Announcement (To be edited later on)

**So thanks to the flashbacks shown in the newest episode, I feel the need to go back and edit everything. It's probably just going to be additions to the prologue and small tweaks to Haru's and Ren's thoughts here and there.**

**I do feel it would be mean, to give you all notifications without there being an actual chapter. So I'll give you guys a preview of what will probably be put up completely tomorrow night.**

* * *

Haru inhaled sharply, then sneezing loudly over the magazine he had been reading;Makoto sent him a worried look.

"That was loud." Nagisa commented as Makoto shuffled about behind them.

"Haru are you okay?" He asked, hand feeling around his pocket.

"My grandma used to say that you sneeze when somebody talks about you." He took a tissue from Makoto's outstretched grip.

"It must be Ren-chan then!" Nagisa concluded, smiling.

Haru looked at him, slightly surprised.

"No, I'm pretty sure he's just sick from jumping into the pool the other day; April's too early a time to be in pools." Makoto scolded.

Haru glowered at his friend, "I'm not some baby that gets sick from swim-" He sneezed mid sentence.

"We'll just have to wait until it's warmer out. You can wait just a little bit longer, right?" the green-eyed boy asked.

"Oh, oh," Nagisa blurted, "I heard from Gou-chan that Ren-chan joined Samezuka's swim team." Upon hearing that, Makoto's mouth fell open in surprise, "Is something wrong, Mako-chan?"

He scratched at his chin thoughtfully before answering, "No, it's nothing. But this means that we might run into her at tournaments."

"Yeah," the blond agreed, "We should enter tournaments! Then we could do relays again!"

"We can't swim a relay with only three people." Haru stated blankly before sneezing again.

"That's true." Makoto observed.

"Then that means..." Nagisa started, "We still have to find one more member?!"

**...**

"Hey Matsuoka-senpai," Ai called down from the top bunk.

"Yeah?" Ren answered, opening her eyes slightly.

"I've been meaning to ask..." The younger girl curled a strand of her shoulder length hair with her finger,"What do you have that blazer for? It has some other school's mark on it, so I was curious."

Ren sat up, blush dusting her cheeks, "I just- it's none of your business." Ren had forgotten about the thing; it had dried off a long time ago, hanging from one of the bed's support poles.

Ai hung her head over the edge her bunk, looking down at Ren, "Do you have a boyfriend that goes to another school or something?"

"N-NO!" The redness spread from ear to ear.

Ai raised her brows at her senior; this was pretty out of character. She was the model student; top grades, good looks, perfect (though very pointy) smile, "Fine, fine, then just tell me why you have that thing."

"It was raining and I was soaked; the guy was just doing a good deed." Ren turned over, showing her back to her roommate.

"Guy? So I was right!"

"We're not dating, in fact, we're not even friends. _Anymore_." She mumbled the last part to herself, but that squeaky-voiced kouhai of her's had sharp ears.

"Anymore?"

"I'll tell you some other time." She dismissed the other girl, standing up to leave the room.

* * *

**There you go! As I said at the top, I'll most likely have the next chapter out tomorrow night; if not that it'll be sometime on Saturday.**


End file.
